American companies and workers were the most productive in the third quarter in nearly four years, but eye-catching number is not nearly as good as it looks.

U.S. productivity climbed at a 3.0% annual pace from July to September, up from a preliminary read of 1.9%. That’s the fastest rate since the final months of 2009, when productivity jumped 4.7%.

Productivity is not something most people think a lot about – aside from executives and economists – but it’s really what makes a country rich. Faster productivity growth leads to better wages for workers, higher profits for companies and all kinds of good things. Think of it as the rising tide that lifts all or most boats.

The problem is, productivity has slowed dramatically in the aftermath of the last recession (December 2007 to June 2009.) It’s averaged a meager 0.3% increase over the past four quarters and it’s running at a roughly 1% clip in the last eight quarters.

By contrast, the growth in productivity averaged a 2.4% increase from 1990 to 2007.

The decline in productivity poses a conundrum. Normally as productivity wanes, businesses hire more employees to keep up with an increase in demand for goods and services. After all, their current workforce simply can’t keep up.

Yet so far companies do not appear to have hired as many workers as the drop in productivity growth would suggest based on the historical record. And that’s the biggest reason why worker wages are growing so slowly (1.6% annual rate), acting as another drag on the economy. There’s still too many people seeking too few jobs.

What’s unclear is whether the slowdown in productivity is temporary or part of a longer-term trend.

The answer has huge implications.

A speed-up in productivity-growth trends would ease the economic hardship of the past six years. Yet slower increases in productivity would mean America has to get used to a higher jobless rate, weaker growth and less economic opportunity in the years to come.

“It will take time for an answer to emerge, but clearly the implications are significant,” said Richard Moody, chief economist at Regions Financial Corp.